Return of the spider mites

List your favourite way of dealing with these.
Found them today! they shut me down a few years ago dont really wanna shut down again.
Any new methods people are using? Or any old school proven techniques?
Any help be appreciated.
Thanks

Diatomaceous earth. Only way I know it gets rid of ALL of them, no chemicals they become resistant to, no 16 week therapy. 1 week of treatment, paste and dust.

3rd Monkey said:

Diatomaceous earth. Only way I know it gets rid of ALL of them, no chemicals they become resistant to, no 16 week therapy. 1 week of treatment, paste and dust.

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Nice one, i just searched and i can get 10 kg for 18 uk pounds, pretty cheap stuff, sounds good, thanks for reply

3rd Monkey said:

Diatomaceous earth. Only way I know it gets rid of ALL of them, no chemicals they become resistant to, no 16 week therapy. 1 week of treatment, paste and dust.

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So..... just done some research, how do you like to apply it?
I seen some people dusting some people mixing with water and spraying and some doing both,
Really excited to use this gear now

Jimmy the vest uk said:

So..... just done some research, how do you like to apply it?
I seen some people dusting some people mixing with water and spraying and some doing both,
Really excited to use this gear now

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I make a paste with water, mist the leaves (top side and under side) with plain water, rub the paste on the stalk and stems, and dust the leaves.

It doesn't work when wet, but the water just adheres it. Then it dries and goes to work. Dust as necessary to keep it on the plants.

Keep conditions optimal so all the eggs hatch and it should be cleared up in 7 days. If conditions aren't optimal, give it 10 days to catch any stragglers.

3rd Monkey said:

Diatomaceous earth. Only way I know it gets rid of ALL of them, no chemicals they become resistant to, no 16 week therapy. 1 week of treatment, paste and dust.

Click to expand...

3rd Monkey said:

I make a paste with water, mist the leaves (top side and under side) with plain water, rub the paste on the stalk and stems, and dust the leaves.

It doesn't work when wet, but the water just adheres it. Then it dries and goes to work. Dust as necessary to keep it on the plants.

Keep conditions optimal so all the eggs hatch and it should be cleared up in 7 days. If conditions aren't optimal, give it 10 days to catch any stragglers.

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Im seriously pumped right now feel like going straight down the police station and throwing some stones at the windows.
Thanks for your input.
In my situation it would be a lot quicker to mix with water and spray as a mist over everything and then let it dry, any reason why this wouldnt be as effective?

Jimmy the vest uk said:

Im seriously pumped right now feel like going straight down the police station and throwing some stones at the windows.
Thanks for your input.
In my situation it would be a lot quicker to mix with water and spray as a mist over everything and then let it dry, any reason why this wouldnt be as effective?

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I've tried it that way but it seems that the water carries most of it off the leaves and not much sticks.

I tried everything a few years back, smoke bombs, pesticide sprays,predator mites, sticky pads, the lot, months of hell and in the end shutting down completely, knowing i might be able to get rid of them has made my day, cheers 3rd monkey

Jimmy the vest uk said:

I tried everything a few years back, smoke bombs, pesticide sprays,predator mites, sticky pads, the lot, months of hell and in the end shutting down completely, knowing i might be able to get rid of them has made my day, cheers 3rd monkey

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Yessir. Good luck and happy hunting.

3rd Monkey said:

Diatomaceous earth. Only way I know it gets rid of ALL of them, no chemicals they become resistant to, no 16 week therapy. 1 week of treatment, paste and dust.

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Hi there 3rd monkey and anyone else who is reading this feel free to get involved.
So i got the DE, defoliated my plants as much as possible, misted the whole plant under leaves on top and on branches, used a pepper pot to shake the DE very generously over the tops and then turned plant upside down completely and got a very good coating of the undersides and the branches.
I set my air moving fans to low and just left them for the past 10 days watering when necessary.
One good thing is seeing how much new growth i got in 10 days which i was suprised about especially after such a heavy defoliation.
In regards to the mites its not good news, this DE either does not work or i have been scammed and its not actually DE that i am using.
On inspection of the new growth under microscope i see a lot of happy mites moving around.
On the older leaves still coated with DE there was also mites moving around and alot of new webbing, looks to me like they dont care about it at all.
Can you recommend a brand of DE that you have used and has worked well for you? From what i have told you is there anything i have done wrong that you can think of?
I bought 10 kg for 18 gbp and it is called multi mite DE, but im starting to think its something else as the mites look like they have enjoyed the last 10 days without me fucking around with them
Any comments from anyone very welcome
Cheers

You did everything right.

https://www.amazon.com/Diatomaceous-Earth-Food-Grade-10/dp/B00025H2PY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=diatomaceous+earth&qid=1559685203&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

This is the exact stuff I use. It most definitely kills mites. I'll have to look up the stuff you used, but there should definitely not be any webbing either.

The DE stayed on the plant, right? I really don't think you're an idiot, but I feel compelled to ask because I've never seen anything survive, let alone thrive in DE.

Looks like good stuff. Something must have went awry with the application process or it's not as good as it says.

3rd Monkey said:

You did everything right.

https://www.amazon.com/Diatomaceous-Earth-Food-Grade-10/dp/B00025H2PY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=diatomaceous+earth&qid=1559685203&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

This is the exact stuff I use. It most definitely kills mites. I'll have to look up the stuff you used, but there should definitely not be any webbing either.

The DE stayed on the plant, right? I really don't think you're an idiot, but I feel compelled to ask because I've never seen anything survive, let alone thrive in DE.

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Yes mate stayed on there lovely i got a really good stick they was not green anymore lol they were grey, i do wonder how they grew so well i thought they would have slowed right down considering how coated the leaves were and after stripping them

I just use an insecticidal soap like Safer's End All II that has pyrethrins and add 10ml/L canola oil to it. I get the 500ml bottle of concentrate for for the same price as 1L of the pre-mixed stuff. Can make 10L with it.

Cheap as hell so soak them good every 3 days for 4 treatments. I didn't rinse it off until a few days after the last treatment and the plants didn't seem to mind. 2 years screwing around with them and haven't found one for a month now. Knock wood!

Jimmy the vest uk said:

Yes mate stayed on there lovely i got a really good stick they was not green anymore lol they were grey, i do wonder how they grew so well i thought they would have slowed right down considering how coated the leaves were and after stripping them

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Grey? Was the DE white or grey? The stuff I get is white, looks like cocaine lol.

I would have to suspect that the DE was shitty, but I would hate to see you buy a different bag and have the same results. That's just daffy.

3rd Monkey said:

Looks like good stuff. Something must have went awry with the application process or it's not as good as it says.

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What does awry mean bro?
So in your experience once this stuff dries it will definitely become effective? Under the microscope the baby mites were flying about straight over the top of coated leaves with no problem at all.

3rd Monkey said:

Grey? Was the DE white or grey? The stuff I get is white, looks like cocaine lol.

I would have to suspect that the DE was shitty, but I would hate to see you buy a different bag and have the same results. That's just daffy.

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i think you right bro, i couldnt see a price on your link? How much 10 lbs cost you ?

Jimmy the vest uk said:

What does awry mean bro?
So in your experience once this stuff dries it will definitely become effective? Under the microscope the baby mites were flying about straight over the top of coated leaves with no problem at all.

i think you right bro, i couldnt see a price on your link? How much 10 lbs cost you ?

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Grey brown colour defo not like cocaine, closest thing i would say it looks like is very fine ash

Awry means "not right".

Yea, never saw ashy DE before and spider mites definitely don't fly over it. They stumble around and then die fairly quickly after contact.

The stuff I buy is $18 for 10lbs.

OldMedUser said:

I just use an insecticidal soap like Safer's End All II that has pyrethrins and add 10ml/L canola oil to it. I get the 500ml bottle of concentrate for for the same price as 1L of the pre-mixed stuff. Can make 10L with it.

Cheap as hell so soak them good every 3 days for 4 treatments. I didn't rinse it off until a few days after the last treatment and the plants didn't seem to mind. 2 years screwing around with them and haven't found one for a month now. Knock wood!

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Thats great news. so you been plagued for two years before using this tactic?
You know what its like you will probably find one tommorow after writing that ha ha.
Had you tried DE during them 2 years?
Thanks for your input

Hey monkey I read years ago you don't want to smoke DE. Since I never used it I don't care one way or the other, but any insights on that?

As far as treating spider mites, I like to use neem products like azamax or neem itself. And here in the States they have a newish product called green magic, organic made from soy and you can use it up to harvest. Best product I have ever used for mites hands down. will knock the population down with one application, but like everything, you need to keep it going for many applications and I like to rotate those two products.